In the production of baked snacks from a dough, such as a wheat-based dough, generally the thinner the dough the more chip-like is the baked snack in crispness and appearance. Also, the more irregular the shape of the snack, and the greater the variety of shapes, the greater is the impression of a chip-like appearance rather than a cracker appearance. Cohesive, machinable doughs which can be sheeted, stretched, and cut into pieces may be produced at room temperature when the doughs possess a high content of wheat or other gluten-containing flour. The baking of conventional wheat-based doughs into crackers provides a lamellar structure with generally uniform small cells and a tender, mealy, leavened texture. Upon mastication, the conventional crackers generally disperse more rapidly than does a chip. They do not provide a crunchy texture and a sensation of breaking into pieces with low molar compaction before dispersion as does a chip. Additionally, crackers are generally dockered to prevent pillowing and to provide a generally flat bottom surface and a blistered top surface. Oyster or soup crackers and snack crackers which have a pillowed appearance may be produced from wheat-based doughs by the elimination of dockering holes. However, these products still possess a leavened, tender, mealy texture and a cracker appearance, rather than a crisp, crunchy chip-like texture and chip-like appearance.
Filled baked crackers or snacks obtained by needle injection of fillings into hollow expanded snacks made from wheat flour are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,209,536 to Dogliotti, U.S. Pat. No. 4,613,508 to Shishido, U.S. Pat. No. 4,752,493 to Moriki, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,000,968 to Szwerc et al. Production of a chip-like snack having surface bubbles and surrounding crisp, thin regions is not disclosed in these patents. The doughs are formulated and processed to retain a puffed or pillowed shape after piercing of the baked, hollow piece.
A cellular structure is obtained by the use of egg white in the shell of the pastry product of U.S. Pat. No. 4,209,536 to Dogliotti.
In the process of U.S. Pat. No. 4,613,508 to Shishido, hard dough biscuits are prepared by baking a dough having 10-30 parts by weight of sugar, 10-25 parts by weight of edible fat or oil, 1.5-4.0% leavening agent, and 20-35 parts by weight of water per 100 parts by weight of cereal flour to obtain a degree of leavening of at least 280%.
The baked hollow expanded snacks in the form of a figure such as an animal or vehicle of U.S. Pat. No. 4,752,493 to Moriki are produced from a farinaceous raw mixture. The raw mixture is prepared by mixing from 60-95 parts by weight of at least one low swelling-capacity farinaceous material and 40-5 parts by weight of at least one high swelling-capacity farinaceous material. The low swelling-capacity material may be a non-glutinous cereal such as wheat, rye, maize, non-glutinous rice, sago, sorghum, triticale, millet and beans, or starches separated from these sources. The high swelling-capacity material may be potato, taro, tapioca, arrowroot, sweet potato, glutinous rice, waxy corn, or starches derived from these sources having their cell walls broken. The farinaceous raw mixture is partly gelatinized prior to rolling into a smooth sheet by the addition of hot water or by the action of steam, so as to raise the temperature of the farinaceous raw mixture to 65° C. to 90° C. According to Moriki, upon baking, the starch in the surface of the dough pieces is gelatinized, thereby forming a skin having good gas-holding capacity and excellent stretchability. Water and volatile materials in the dough pieces push the skin outward upon heating, so that the dough pieces expand and are internally split into two layers or shells, forming a hollow space therebetween.
The filled crackers of U.S. Pat. No. 5,000,968 to Szwerc et al. are produced from a dough containing proteolytic enzymes. The enzymes hydrolyze proteins of the flour, which relaxes the dough and thereby permits a hollow center to be formed, rather than a cellular center, as the cracker expands under the influence of the leavening agent during baking. This, it is disclosed, strengthens the shell of the cracker and permits the cracker to be filled by means of an injection needle piercing the surface of the cracker.
The production of chip-like, starch-based snacks having a crispy texture and surface blisters from starch-based compositions which have little or no gluten, such as potato flour or corn flour, is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,873,093 and 4,834,996 to Fazzolare et al. and U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,429,834 and 5,500,240 to Addesso et al. Starch-based compositions which have little or no gluten, when mixed with water, do not form a dough that is cohesive at room temperature and continuously machinable or sheetable. Machinability of doughs made from ingredients having little or no gluten may be improved by forming a dough under elevated temperature conditions, such as by steaming the ingredients, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,873,093 and 4,834,996 to Fazzolare et al.
In the process of U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,429,834 and 5,500,240 to Addesso et al., use of a pregelatinized waxy starch provides for the production of cohesive, extensible, continuously machinable doughs from starchy materials or ingredients having starch with no or low gluten. These machinable doughs may be formed at room temperatures without the need for steaming or heat treatment to develop cohesiveness, extensibility, and machinability.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,931,303 and 4,994,295 to Holm et al. disclose that in the production of fabricated snack products having controlled surface bubbling, the dough sheet must have cohesive properties which permit the surface or surfaces of the dough or preform to stretch relatively uniformly when forming bubbles during frying. The highly cohesive, non-adhesive dough, it is disclosed, can be made by adjusting the quantity of free gelatinized starch, the degree of retrogradation of the starch (thereby affecting the water absorption of a given quantity of the starch), and the concentration of any starch-complexing emulsifiers present. In the Holm et al. process, a dough may be formed comprising, e.g., potato solids or corn solids, raw or pregelatinized starches, modified starches, flavorings, oils, and the like. For producing potato snacks, the preferred major ingredient in the potato dough is a dehydrated potato flake with high water-absorption capability. The dry ingredients are placed in a mixer and blended with water to obtain a dough having a moisture content of from about 30% to about 55%. According to Holm et al., higher moisture content means higher oil absorption during frying. It is further disclosed that doughs containing less than about 30% moisture are generally too dry, after the Holm et al. drying step, to create adequate bubbles. In the Holm et al. process, substantial moisture reduction of the dough is achieved by frying. During frying, the dough moisture content of about 30% to about 55% is reduced to obtain a fried product with a moisture content of about 1-2%.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,560,569 to Ivers discloses that in the production of a dough-based fried food product, a processed starch in either gelatinized or ungelatinized form is frequently added when a low-starch flour or flake is employed. Water, it is disclosed, is required to soften the flour, and depending upon the protein content of the flour, to form a network of protein (gluten), which is the framework of the product. According to Ivers, starch, which is present in flours, is used as a binder and is required for the unleavened product to expand upon frying. Dough stickiness and hardness of the cooked product may be controlled by the addition of oil to the dough to control the extent of the protein framework. The dough is prepared by adjusting the ratios of components and the mixing time to allow it to sheet uniformly at the desired thickness without sticking or tearing. According to Ivers, addition of a small amount of a lecithin-in-water suspension to the formulation of the dough-based fried snack foods improves the transfer, sheeting and cutting, and significantly reduces clumping during frying, without the rapid buildup of free fatty acids and without significant darkening of frying oil, normally associated with the frying of foods containing lecithin.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,747,092 and 5,980,967 each to Carey et al. disclose that in the production of wheat-based baked snacks the inclusion of a pregelatinized starch in the dough to create surface bubbles tends to result in a styrofoam-like or compressible texture, rather than a highly crisp, crunchy texture. Also, if the pregelatinized starch is not sufficiently hydrated prior to baking, bubbles created during baking tend to collapse. A pregelatinized potato starch, which is also activated (i.e. sufficiently hydrated) prior to baking, is employed to reduce or control bubbling and to avoid a styrofoam-like texture. Sufficient hydration of the pregelatinized waxy starch and pregelatinized potato starch is achieved by premixing them with hot water or by providing sufficient dough lay time for hydration to occur. The Carey et al. patents disclose forming a dough-like composition into a sheet, and compressing the dough sheet to reduce its thickness. The dough sheet may first be reduced in thickness to about ½ inch and then to about ¼ inch. The reductions in thickness may be performed by the use of one or more sets of counterrotating reduction rolls. In either case, a final reduction in thickness is done by a gauge roller. The dough may be reduced during this operation to a final thickness of about 1/32 of an inch. The dough sheet may then be cut to a desired configuration, such as square, round, or rectangular shaped or potato slice shaped. The dough piece, it is disclosed may be cut to provide a scalloped edge or periphery.
U.S. Patent Publications US 2002/0022076 A1 to Lanner at al., US 2002/0018837 A1 to Lanner et al., US 2002/0018838 to Zimmerman et al., US 2002/0034571 A1 Zimmerman et al., and US 2002/0028273 to Teras et al. disclose a process for making a bubbled snack chip. The chips are made from a dough composition comprising a pre-cooked, starch-based material (masa) and a pregelatinized starch. The pre-cooked, starch-based material has a pasting temperature from about 140° F. to about 209° F.; a peak viscosity of about 200 cP to about 1500 cP; a final viscosity of from about 500 cP to about 2200 cP; and a water absorption index of from about 2 to about 4. The pre-cooked, starch-based material has a particle size distribution in which about 0 to about 15 wt. %, preferably about 2 to about 15 wt. %, remain on a #16 U.S. sieve. The pre-cooked starch-based material may consist essentially of corn that has been cooked and steeped in a lime-water solution.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,004,612 to Andreski et al. discloses the production of shredded snacks with a chip-like appearance and texture. Thin, crisp, baked snacks having a chip-like appearance are continuously produced from a cooked, shredded laminate by substantially compressing the laminate without deleteriously affecting the attainment of a substantially uniform, visually apparent shred or woven pattern in the final, baked product. Additionally, at least substantially all, or all of the individual shred layers maintain their integrity and may be viewed in the final, baked product. The substantial compression is achieved by supporting the laminate of cooked, net-like sheets on a conveyer belt, and passing the supported laminate and belt between at least one pair of counterrotating compression rolls. The bottom, belt-supporting compression roll helps to maintain the linear speed of the separately driven conveyer belt as the top roll compresses the laminate against the top surface of the belt. Substantial movement or slippage of the laminate relative to the belt which would substantially disrupt or distort the shred pattern of the laminate is avoided. Air voids and inter-layer spacing are substantially reduced and interlayer adhesion is substantially increased by the compression so that upon baking the compressed laminate separation of the layers and puffing is substantially eliminated. The substantial compression of the laminate provides a thin, flat, chip-like appearance rather than a puffed or thick biscuit or cracker appearance. Upon completion of the compression, the thickness of the compressed laminate may range from about 0.035 inch to about 0.065 inch, preferably from about 0.055 inch to about 0.062 inch. The compressed laminate is preferably partially cut into triangular shaped pieces having flattened, blunted or rounded corners by a rotary cutter so that the apex or point of a triangle in one row does not touch or intersect the apex or point of another triangle located in an adjacent row.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2005/0053708 A1 to Mihalos et al discloses the production of thin, baked snacks having an irregular shape, scalloped edges, a chip-like crispy texture and bubbles distributed over their surfaces. A dough sheet for producing the thin, baked chips is obtained continuously by compressing a dough sheet to a thickness of less than or equal to about 0.035 inch between counter-rotating gauge rolls while maintaining the surface of each gauge roll at a temperature of about 85° F. to about 95° F. Maintaining the gauge roll surface temperature at about 85° F. to about 95° F., it is disclosed, avoids sticking, tearing, and shredding of the thin dough sheet as it is compressed and transferred by the gauge rolls, even at high production rates or line speeds.
While scalloped edges provide an attractive, unique, distinctive appearance to snack chips such as those disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2005/0053708 A1 to Mihalos et al, it has been found that in the high speed, mass production of snack chips from a fermented dough, scalloped edges tend to increase product breakage, the production of fines, and double and triple products. It is believed that the numerous, tight turns or very low radii of curvature of scallops tend to impede release of a fermented dough from a rotary cutter having irregularly shaped cutting elements. Tiny or micro tears in the dough in the concave portions of the scallops tend to propagate in the baked product causing “checking” or breakage of the baked pieces as well as breaking off of the scallops which disintegrate into fines.
Also, with fermented doughs it has been found that the scallops in an irregularly shaped dough piece tend to impede separation of the dough pieces from each other before and after baking thereby resulting in “doubles” or “triples”. Even though the dough sheet is cut prior to baking, fusing of the dough pieces tends to occur before baking and during baking. Before baking, the cut dough sheet is separated into rows which extend across the belt by transfer to a faster moving belt. After baking, the rows of baked product may be dropped past rods onto a lower belt and then tumbled to separate the pieces in each row from each other. When fermented doughs are employed, the presence of scallops in irregularly shaped fermented dough pieces which contain concave and convex edge portions tends to keep the dough pieces fused together thereby resulting in baked products which contain two or more snack chips fused together even after undergoing material handling operations.
In the present invention, notched edges are employed to facilitate separation of fermented dough pieces from each other before and after baking. The notches help to at least substantially avoid tearing and breaking of the dough pieces, and substantially prevent the production of fines and fused snacks such as “doubles” and “triples”. The notches are distinctly visible in the baked snacks and provide a unique, attractive edge appearance to thin, baked snacks having an irregular shape which are produced from a fermented dough. The fermented snack products exhibit a chip-like crispy texture and have bubbles distributed over their surfaces. They may be produced from a fermented dough sheet which has been subjected to compression in final gauge rolls to a thickness of less than or equal to about 0.035 inch. The thin dough sheets may be produced continuously without tearing, shredding, or sticking at the final gauge rolls even at high production rates or line speeds. The irregularly shaped snack in a variety of shapes, can be produced from a single dough sheet by continuously cutting the thin dough sheet into pieces with a rotary cutter without producing dough scraps between the pieces. The very thin, irregularly shaped baked products provide an enhanced crispy, crunchy, chip-like texture and appearance rather than a cracker appearance and texture.